Activism

To argue that one case led to the abolishment of either system is as simplistic as it is to argue that online activism is capable of having influence without corresponding offline activities. While most online activity is unsuccessful at achieving results like those just described, the importance is arguably not merely in the specific cases or their consequent effects but in the way Chinese civil society has engaged online to investigate or pressure government behavior in a system without rule of law.

“[Anonymous] risk government using their effort as evidence of why the government’s laws need to be introduced. They’re walking a very fine line between trying to argue a particular point, but having that turned back on them by skillful politicians,” [Dr Mark] Gregory [RMIT University senior lecturer at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering] said. “Anonymous would be much more successful at achieving their aims if they identified insecure systems, like the AAPT’s systems, and either notified the company or made it public that their system was insecure, without going ahead and actually stealing the data,” he said.